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A few years ago Newport Shipyard, in Rhode Island, realized they were was struggling to get certain refit jobs because of the added costs of getting certain size vessels into their building. Already having three Marine Travelift mobile boat hoists on-site they quickly came to the conclusion that a custom 200CII Marine Travelift could maximize their service offerings to the commercial vessels in their area, while helping to minimize costs.

Eli Dana, general manager at Newport Shipyard, explains the challenges they were facing, “We were also struggling to get commercial vessels because there wasn’t room in our schedule and our lack of available space made it hard to fit them in our yard during our busy periods. To solve these problems we had plans for a Marine Travelift that would both hit the sweet spot for many commercial vessels in our area and also be short enough to fit in our building.”

During discussions with the team at Marine Travelift they learned that their yard would be a qualified applicant for the Small Shipyard Grant Program. These federal grants are administered by USDOT Maritime Administration and authorized by congress to yards. In order to qualify for the grants marinas must meet the following criteria:
• Perform vessel construction and/or repair work on commercial or government vessels that are at least 40 feet in length
• Or perform work on noncommercial vessels that are more than 100 feet in length
• Have less than 1,200 employees on staff

With over 300 shipyards in operation throughout the United States the funds are historically delivered to projects looking to improve infrastructure, assist with efficiencies and/or create high-quality jobs that bolster local economies.

Grant Application Process

From the moment the 2016 funding was granted, Newport Shipyard had six short weeks to gather their required materials for the application. Marine Travelift engineering and sales teams worked closely with their application development team to ensure they had all the required materials, as well as a mobile boat hoist designed to meet the specifications of their existing infrastructure. Dana described the process of applying for the grant as, “Time consuming and it has to be well planned out,” he goes on saying, “I would strongly recommend using a grant writer to help with your application.”

Successful Grant Projects

A few weeks after applying, in April 2016, Newport Shipyard learned they were awarded a significant amount of funding from the Small Shipyard Grant Program to add a 200CII boat hoist to their operation. The Marine Travelift team wasted no time getting to work on building the new machine, knowing the full well the busy haul out season was not far off. Dana said, “Marine Travelift was great to work with developing a very specialized machine for us and then completing it on a compressed time table.”

The new boat hoist was fully functional by mid-November that year and provided them the assistance they were looking for during their busy end-of-the-year haul out season. Get a firsthand look at the process of setting-up of this machine at Newport Shipyard:

How to Apply

Get your application materials together now. The Maritime Admiration is taking grant proposals for these funds through April 16, 2019. If you or a marina/shipyard you know would be a good candidate for these grants you can get all the information you need on the Small Shipyard Grant Coalition website here.